At the 2002 Fort Lauderdale
International Boat Show, the Superyacht Society offered a two-hour seminar
entitled "Understanding U.S. Immigration Rules Today," which
illustrated that the INS is not on a `round-the-clock deportation
hunt and that crew members who have gone through the appropriate immigration
procedures do not, and will not, need to go into hiding anytime soon.

In a meeting held
on August 27 at the IGFA International Fishing Hall of Fame in Fort
Lauderdale and then again November 1 at the seminar, INS acting deputy
district director and assistant district director for inspections Jack
Garofano attempted to clarify a great deal of misinterpretation and
misinformation about what the proposed changes will mean to crew members
of megayachts and stated that "the proposed changes were not designed
to affect the legitimate visitors to this country."

So how do you know if your crew is "legit"? Presently, there are two main visas
for foreign yachtsmen and crew: D and B. The D visa (a.k.a crew or crew
list visa), for which the INS proposed no changes, allows an individual
a layover of no more than 29 days in the United States and is the most
common visa for cruise-ship and yacht crews. Within the B category,
there are two subcategories: the B-1 visa for foreigners here for business
purposes, and the B-2 visa for tourists. Proposed changes will eliminate
the current six-month admission period for B-2 visitors and reduce the
maximum admission period of both B-1 and B-2 visitors from one year
to six months. The B visa's length of stay will now be "incumbent
on each person entering the United States to prove that they have a
residence abroad which they do not intend to abandon and to explain
the reason for his/her visit and why they need longer than 30 days,"
according to the INS.

The B-2 visa does
not apply to crew because it's for tourists only, but seems to
have been a source of confusion in the past. If someone is here on a
B-2 visa, he or she is not authorized to work in the United States.
The B-1 visa, though, does apply to crew and foreign yachtsmen. Since
the D visa only allows a layover of 29 days, if a vessel and crew were
going to be here for, say, even 31 days, they'd need to apply
for B-1 visas since the D visas wouldn't allow that long of a
stay; if they stayed for 31 days on a D visa, they'd be in violation
of the regulations. According to the INS, as long as they have the proper
paperwork and they need to stay longer than 29 days, they will be allowed
a long enough stay (of up to six months) for their business purposes
on a B-1 visa.